Iron
Cold Iron Cold iron is the ultimate sign of Banality to changelings. Perhaps it was the rise of the iron age that precipitated the Sundering, and thus cold iron is the Sundering's banal manifestation. Its presence makes changelings ill at ease, and cold iron weapons cause horrible, smoking wounds that rob changelings of Glamour and threaten their very existence. It is so distasteful to changelings that they can sense cold iron in their immediate presence. Like many things in Changeling, cold iron is a bit of a paradox. Steel actually contains more of the element iron than does cold iron. In fact, most of the things we associate with iron nowadays are actually steel or cast iron (cold iron which has been melted and poured into a mold). Cold iron is what we know as wrought iron. The best way to think about cold iron is not as a thing, but as a process, a very low-tech process. It must be produced from iron ore over a charcoal fire. The resulting lump of black-gray material can then be forged (hammered) into useful shapes. Cold iron weapons are heavier, softer, more brittle than steel weapons and lose their edge more quickly. Any cold iron weapon larger than a dagger is very unwieldy, usually adding +1 or +2 to the difficulty number to hit. Botches almost certainly cause them to break. Cold iron weapons therefore tend to be small — axe heads, daggers, arrow heads, darts, bolts, caltrops, shuriken. Making cold iron weapons is illegal in most kingdoms, and even owning one is considered a crime in most. (Many a noble still has one secreted away, just in case.) Mortal blacksmiths are much prized for their abilities to work cold iron, and finding the ore is not too difficult since large iron ore deposits are common. It is rumored that some mortal mages can produce cold iron weapons that have the properties of steel. It is also believed that weapons quenched in changeling blood are extremely hard for changelings to sense. Cold iron weapons also cause changelings to lose a point of temporary Glamour per Health Level inflicted. Weapons forged of wrought iron have the normal number of damage dice as their common counterparts. If they deal damage to Fae, that damage is Aggravated, and the Fae loses a point of Glamour as well. Banality Given Form Iron is, as common conventional wisdom would have it, the manifestation of banality itself in the Autumn world. It is anathema to the Fae, and whenever they are exposed to it in any notable quantity, they are affected. Whenever a character is in close proximity to cold iron, they will almost certainly gain at least a single point of temporary banality. A fae will gain a temporary point of banality each time they come into physical contact with cold iron, and may gain more the longer they are in contact with it. This is an extremely painful experience to the Kithain, often described as a searing cold that induces waves of nausea. Note that while it causes pain and spiritual damage (in the form of gaining banality) mere contact does not normally cause physical damage to the fae.